"As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves
with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave
or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in
Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's
offspring, heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:27-29 (NRSV)

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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

General Convention 2012: Off and Running

The TransEpiscopal team has hit the ground running here at
The Episcopal Church’s 77th General Convention in steamy
Indianapolis. Most of us arrived
on Monday, and yesterday was a day of joy and discovery, as many people who
knew each other only online finally got to meet in person. For the first time we have our own
booth in the Convention exhibit hall, and over the last two days we have been
meeting people from across the church in that space. As in 2009, I am so struck by the sense of interconnection,
and especially the unexpected ways that people from all across the church are
connected specifically to trans people.

Yesterday I met a priest from a Midwestern diocese who had
watched the documentary Out of the Box last Saturday evening. She was moved to make a connection in
her sermon between the gospel passage last Sunday and the idea of being and
acting “out of the box.” She
talked about how our church would be looking at resolutions adding “gender
identity and expression” to the church’s nondiscrimination canons here at
General Convention. Two
parishioners then thanked her for her words and shared that each of them were
parents of transgender people.
This was the second instance of a priest I know preaching about
transgender equality this past Sunday.

The other one was a friend in Massachusetts where our state
nondiscrimination law just went into effect on Sunday. I was moved to see coverage of this law
in a headline at the top of the Boston Globe metro section as I flew to
Indianapolis Monday morning. The
sense of celebration and of momentum coming into General Convention has been
powerful.

This resolution would add “gender identity and expression”
to Canon 3.1.2, the church’s nondiscrimination canon for access to the
ordination process. This addition
would make explicit that ordained ministry is open to transgender people.

D019 “Amend Canon
I.17.5 - Extending the Rights of Laity”

This resolution would add “gender identity and expression”
to Canon 1.17.5, the church’s nondiscrimination canon for access of lay people
to all levels of the life of the church.

D022 “Church wide
Response to Bullying”

This resolution calls for a church wide response to the
epidemic of bullying, including those targeted because of their gender identity
or gender expression.

D002 and D019 were assigned to the Ministry Committee, and
hearings on them will take place tomorrow at 2pm. TransEpiscopal members and allies are preparing now to
testify. Once the hearings take
place, the committee has to decide whether to send them along to one of the two
Houses in The Episcopal Church’s bicameral system. So stay tuned for more on that front, as well as the fate of
D022, the resolution on bullying.

Meanwhile, today has been packed with hearings on various
other numerous resolutions, including marriage equality, the impact of DOMA on couples with an immigrant member, and many, many
more.

,

This afternoon, I was joined by Rev. Dr. Christina Beardsley (of Changing Attutude) at the Consultation’s Speaker’s Corner in the exhibit hall. We gave an overview
of the trans-related resolutions before us, and the broader context for
movement on trans equality in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. We emphasized that the last General
Convention passed four transgender supportive resolutions, falling short only
on C061, now called D002. Tina
also spoke about the longstanding presence of transgender clergy in the Church
of England, as well as the collaborative work that has been taking place between various "LGB and T"(as she puts it) and allied groups.

Between the end of the Speaker’s Corner and Integrity’s
double feature of Out of the Box and Love Free Or Die, we learned that
resolutions D002 and D019 were going to receive a joint hearing tomorrow at 2pm
in the Ministry Committee.

With that knowledge, we came into the room packed for the double
feature. Out of the Box had begun
when I scooted into a free row to grab a seat. After sitting down I looked up and realized I was directly
behind my bishop Tom Shaw who plays a prominent part in Love Free or Die. He turned around and grinned at my
comment in Out of the Box about my decision to transition feeling like
Christmas morning. I laughed out
loud at the scene of him in the water fight. Seeing each of us up on the big screen was a little surreal. As Bishop Gene Robinson went on to say
in the panel afterward, as difficult a time it is in the life of the church, it
is also such an amazing, wondrous time.
What a privilege to be part of this holy work of transformation.

So now at the end of this second full day in Indianapolis,
we prepare for our hearing tomorrow.
Please keep us all in your prayers, that minds would be clear and hearts
be open.

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